


Fear is a consequence of Love

by stephanieebrown



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Court of Owls, Death, Murder, talon au, traumatic childhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 18:37:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4677086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephanieebrown/pseuds/stephanieebrown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce thinks about life, death and his children.</p><p>A Court of Owls/Talon!AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fear is a consequence of Love

Bruce had never wanted any of his children to take the serum like he had, years ago. Hadn’t wanted them to experience the same agony he had as he was force-fed the liquid that had freezed his veins and allowed him to recover from a bullet to the head. The main reason being, and only the main reason because he had many, many reasons why he did not wish this same fate on his children, was that a tiny part of him still hoped that maybe they could still have a future. Apart from the Court.

Inevitably, of course, the decision is taken from him like everything else in this godforsaken city.

He had been twenty-one when the court had taken him. Already training to become Batman at this point, he’d been a worthy opponent and instead of recruiting wealthy and influential Bruce Wayne as one of their doting followers, impressed, the Court decided to change his fate and sent him below with the Talons instead.

That had been their first mistake.

Bruce was a fast learner, always had been, and he was skilled. He fought for the Court and he killed for the Court but his mind was still with Batman and the idea that he could still save a city that had no intention of being saved.

When he was twenty-three, Bruce acted. He unleashed his full fury against the Court itself and poured every drop of anguish, pain, frustration and anger into every kill he made. He’d left none alive.

At twenty-five, ‘Bruce Wayne’ returned from the dead. Because of the serum, his skin was white as death and the blue of his veins prominent, but he passed it off as some made up disease he faked a load of research for and re-entered his old life. Things were different of course, he couldn’t allow himself to get close to anyone so goodbye were the days of playboy ‘Brucie’. He became known as a recluse but he didn’t mind. Alfred had cried when he had ‘come back from the dead’ and his old butler’s company was all he needed.

A few months later, Batman was born. Only, his time with Court had taught him that killing his prey has its benefits. Besides, what else is he to do with those who are not afraid? So Batman kills his adversaries and feels no regret.

A year later, he meets Dick Grayson.

The boy reminds him of his own traumatized state when he had lost his parents and it is almost on automatic when he decides to take him in. Alfred is furious of course. He doesn’t want a child to be exposed to the horror that is the truth about Bruce Wayne. Still, Bruce is stubborn and the boy stays.

Later, while running a background search on Grayson, wondering why the name sounded familiar, he comes across a small black book from the Court and it has the boy’s name in it. The small child currently crying himself to sleep was meant to be a Talon.

If Bruce believed in fate he’d say that the Talon-that-was and the Talon-that-was-meant-to-be were destined to meet. _He doesn’t_ but that doesn’t make Bruce’s insides squirm any less.

Dick becomes his partner of sorts, much to Alfred’s displeasure, and gets his first taste of blood slitting Tony Zucco’s throat. He’s skilled and good and _happy._ He doesn’t let the heavy smog of Gotham corrupt him.

Bruce had never wanted to give Dick, young, lively, happy Dick, the serum and he is so happy that he doesn’t have to. Jason Todd however is a different story. In desperation, he uses the serum on the boy after the Joker kills him. His wounds are so severe that Bruce fears it won’t work.

He stays in stasis for four years.

Bruce kills the Joker the instant he finds him.

Tim comes along and like Dick, Bruce believes he won’t have to become immortal. He’s quick and clever and Bruce thinks that maybe he and Jason would have gotten along. If, that is, Tim’s first look at Jason hadn’t been looking at a dead boy through a frozen stasis pod. Tim, he thinks, won’t need the serum like Jason did.

Then comes Stephanie. At first she is a minor annoyance. She hangs around with Tim and can fight fairly well for someone without training. Bruce helps her take down her father and she kills the man without blinking.

A year later, she’s dead.

Bruce now has two stasis pods in the Batcave filled with dead children with hell running through their veins.

Cassandra mourns Stephanie, having joined Bruce’s crusade whilst the blonde was still alive. She’s the best fighter he’s ever seen and he can see so much of himself in her. When she goes down under the blade, Bruce is there a second later with the serum and it’s his fast reaction that brings her back to life instantly without having to freeze her. She’s like him now. Pale and blue-veined and impervious to all fatalities.

Jason wakes up.

Stephanie wakes up.

Bruce meets Damian.

He now has three in his flock, not counting him, that have the serum running through their dead veins and he wishes it would stop there but Damian, brash, violent and proud Damian, dies saving Dick and now he has his youngest son frozen in a glass case in his basement. It shouldn’t take long for him to revive, he had been fairly quick with administering the serum and it should only be a matter of months before Damian returns to them.

After this, Dick and Tim volunteer to take the serum. Bruce is aghast at first and tries to dissuade them but they are clever, just like he taught the to be.

“You need us," says Dick.

“It’ll be better this way,” supplies Tim.

Bruce watches them die and then jolt back to life as the serum takes hold.

He’s never hated himself more.

At some point, Bruce wonders why the Court bothered immortalizing their Talons in the first place. Why not just recruit new, younger men and women to fight for them instead of pickling and preserving warriors who should have died centuries ago? Then Bruce gets it.

It’s _fear_ that made the Court create immortal assassins. For all the Court preached about serving Gotham and restoring order, they feared for their own lives more. The Talons that could not die served as protection and made them feel secure and in control.

It is the same motive that drove Bruce to use the serum on his own family. Fear of losing them had spurned him to make sure he could _never lose them_. Immortalising his own children so that he doesn’t have to face the same loss and abandonment he felt when his parents died.

 _Fear_ is a consequence of _love_ and if the Court ever taught him anything it was that love is a weakness. But Bruce is stubborn and has never been one to listen to what others are preaching at him. He _loves_ his family and that is something that the Court had never been able to take away from him.

Dick is still bright and alive, even though his heart no longer beats with the pulse of blood. Jason is still sharp and competitive and finds great joy that there are no side effects to smoking if you’re already dead. Tim is still clever and quick-witted and Stephanie is still as fierce and bubbly. Cass is still quiet, calm and content, finally at home whether the comfort of her siblings’ skin is cold or not and Damian is still proud and still trying to stab Tim with every sharp object he can find. It’s _slightly_ more acceptable now because whatever he does, Damian can’t hurt Tim. _Slightly._

Bruce will still scream at them whenever they get on his nerves.

 _Fear_ is a consequence of love but Bruce doesn’t have to fear anymore. Not much, anyway.

He’s got his children and for the next few years, decades and maybe even centuries, they’ll have him too.


End file.
